Reopening of Notre-Dame de : pay attention to the traffic restrictions applied from this Wednesday

Home straight or final sprint. The reopening of Notre-Dame de (4th arrondissement) is closer than ever and an entire neighborhood is preparing for it. While a major security system will be deployed on December 7 and 8 covering the Île de la Cité and its surroundings, “administrative police measures begin this Wednesday, December 4,” said Monday, during a conference of press, police chief Laurent Nuñez.

And they are not without consequences. First impacted: motorists. From this Wednesday at 2 p.m. and until Sunday, December 8 at noon, several roads close to the traffic of all motorized vehicles, on the left bank side. These are the high quays located between the Pont de la Tournelle (5th) and the Pont-Neuf (6th). In detail, the quays of Tournelle, Montebello and Saint-Michel are completely closed to traffic. Please note that cycle paths are included, and therefore cannot be used.

“This leads to another measure,” continues the Parisian police chief. The closure of the second-hand booksellers”, located on these same quays. “We're talking about 80 to 100 boxes, that's not nothing,” remarks Jérôme Callais, president of the cultural association of Paris second-hand booksellers. But let's remain sporty by saying that we will catch up in the days and weeks following the reopening weekend. Even if it falls on the first real weekend in December, when pay has just come, three weeks before Christmas, and customers like to come see us at that time. Maybe they will go see their colleagues on the right bank. » The boxes will be cleared.

Five reception areas for the public on the high platforms

To allow the general public to attend the various highlights of the reopening of the restored Gothic building – “as was done during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games”, underlines the police prefect – five reception areas will be demarcated on the high platforms, and will be able to accommodate up to 40,000 people simultaneously, with the “first come, first served” rule. So many areas which require time to install barriers, and five giant screens “both on the Île de la Cité, visible from the high platforms on the left bank, and on the platforms themselves”, as well as sound systems , specifies for its part the City of Paris.

You will also be strongly advised not to look for a parking space in the Paris city center from this Wednesday. A prefectural decree to this effect was published this Monday, December 2. The document prohibits the parking of “any type of vehicle” on the entire Île de la Cité, as well as on the eight bridges which connect the island to the two banks, as well as on the Saint-Louis bridge and the de la Tournelle. “This ceremony means a significant security system. In advance, I thank the Parisians for their understanding,” declared Patrick Bloche, first deputy (PS) of Anne Hidalgo, during the same press conference.

Silt perimeter all weekend and shops closed

Because the restrictions will intensify as we get closer to the institutional sequence on the square in front of Notre-Dame – scheduled for late Saturday afternoon in the presence of Emmanuel Macron and around fifty business leaders. States – with the activation of a Silt protection perimeter on the Île de la Cité and its surroundings from Saturday at 7 a.m. until Sunday 8 p.m. Comings and goings are extremely limited and subject to controls (search, pat-down and presentation of proof of address, an invitation or accreditation).

During this same time slot, all businesses on the Île de la Cité will be closed. “Once again, it is the breweries and restaurants that are impacted,” whispers X Frank Delvau, boss of Umih. “A historic event requires historic measures,” argues Ariel Weil, mayor (PS) of Paris Center. It's an extraordinary moment. It echoes this somewhat magical period that we experienced this summer with the Olympics and the eyes of the world focused on the Île de la Cité. It's not every day that a cathedral is inaugurated again, it's even rarer than the Olympics. »

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